s another mite of a Sandpiper that comes around here late every
summer, though it nests way up north. It is the very littlest of all,
not bigger than a Sparrow, so pretty and innocent-looking that it ought
to go with Singing Birds and never be shot for food. I've often had
them run along in front of me on the beach, piping as sad as if they
were telling me how little and helpless they were, and begging me to ask
folks not to shoot them."

Then Olaf pushed up the creek a little further, hoping to be able to
land or else reach some Marsh Wrens' nests from the boat. But one nest
was all they could find--a ball of grasses fastened between two cat-tail
flags. Olaf cut the stalks carefully and presented it to Dodo, much to
her delight. Then he paddled back to the river, where they found Olive
waiting with some beautiful pitcher-plants in her hands, while their
uncle said that he had in his handkerchief a strange plant, that ate
insects. But Dodo thought that he was joking, and as soon as they were
in the sharpie she whispered: "Uncle Roy, you must tell me four
tables--Olaf knows the birds by sight, but he doesn't make them sound as
distinct as you do in the telling."

[Illustration: Least Sandpiper.]

"So missy is flattering her old bird man! Well, tell me the names, for I
suppose you can remember them."

"Oh yes--but come to think of it, I don't think Olaf said what the Wise
Men call these birds. One was a bob-tailed Rail--one was a Snipe with
far-back eyes and a finger-beak like a Woodcock's--one was a Spotted
Sandpiper that teeters and whistles 'tweet-weet'--and the other was a
tiny little Sandpiper with a very sad cry. Now do you know them?"

"Famous!" laughed the Doctor; "of course I know them after that."

"Do they all belong to the same family?" persisted Dodo, whose little
head was beginning to swim with all this new knowledge it had to hold.

"Not all of them. The Snipe and both the Sandpipers belong to one
family, the same as that of the Woodcock; but the Rail belongs to a
different family. So also does the Plover you learned this morning. The
three families of Snipes, Plovers, and Rails are the largest ones of all
the tribe of Birds that Paddle and Wade by the sea-shore. The Rails from
their size and shape are sometimes called Marsh Hens. The Turnstone
belongs to a fourth family, but it is a very small one. Now I will give
you the tables of the four kinds of birds you have learned this
afternoon."

[Illust